Flash video encoding workflow using Adobe Media Encoder

This is a broad overview for creating .FLVs and .F4Vs using Adobe Media Encoder. Every video encoding project has its own settings that are best and there is no “kill all” technique to encoding video but understanding the basics will give you a good grasp on how to set your parameters in all instances. A good place to start to get an understanding of terminology, read these articles: Adobe Help and Longtail Video

The main differences between the 2 types:FLV
• On2 VP6 based
• works with Flash player 7-10

F4V
• H264 based
• works with Flash player 9.3-10

The great thing about both file types is that it stores picture data on each keyframe and only encodes the information that changes between the keyframes. Keyframes also set the points in your video which the flash player will scrub to, so more keyframes equals smoother scrubbing but also a higher file size. A good starting point is setting your keyframes apart equal to your frames per second (fps) of your video. That way you set one keyframe every second.

The workflow of Adobe Media Encoder is rather simple and really only has 3 steps:

Step1 Import the files that you want encoded.
You can drag and drop the files you want to convert right into the Render Queue or click Add on the right hand side, then press Settings on the right hand side.
Step2 Set your encoding parameters.
The built-in presets are a great starting point and cover a vast range of codecs. For this example you will select FLV I F4V from the Format drop down. And then select the appropriate preset for your particular video from the Preset drop down. If you want to make tweaks to bitrate settings, audio settings, video size, etc. it is all done here. You can even save your setting as a preset to use in the future. When you are finished press OK on the bottom.

Step3 Start your Render Queue.
Do so by pressing Start Queue on the right side. You will notice the your Format and Preset settings have changed and aslo your extension on your Output File should read either .flv or .f4v depending on the format you chose. If you have multiple items in your queue they will automatically be converted starting from the top and working its way down.